Anger is an
emotion that has no religion, race, gender, creed or political affiliation. It
is an emotion we, as human beings, face every single day. Many are too quick to
react to this emotion that holds a firm grip on our hearts, only causing the
situation to escalate further into a path of destruction. It has a tremendous
effect on those around us, but also on us; anger leaves a terrible imprint on
our hearts, slowly and slowly causing it to sear. The Prophet (peace and
blessing of Allah be upon him) said:

“Some are
swift to anger and swift to cool down, the one characteristic making up or the
other; some are slow to anger and slow to cool down, the one characteristic
making up for the other; the best of you are those that are slow to anger and
swift to cool down and the worst of you are those who are swift to anger and
slow to cool down.” (Al-Tirmidhi Hadith: 1331)

But the
question is how should we deal with anger? How can we try to change our
characters so that we are slow to anger and swift to cool? Who do we turn to
show us how to overcome our battle with anger? To these questions, there is only
one simple solution to extinguish the inflamed heart: to follow the ways of
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him).

Firstly, we
must understand the why it is essential to control our anger. Ibn Umar (Allah be
well pleased with him) said:

“There is
nothing that is swallowed greater with Allah in reward than a slave of Allah who
swallows and contains his rancour out of desire for the pleasure of Allah.”
(Sahih Bukhari)

This hadith
clearly shows that the main and most important reason to control
our anger is to seek the pleasure of Allah (Glorified is He and Exalted). This,
as Muslims, is our main purpose in life: that every single action that we
do must always be done in order to please Allah (Glorified is He and Exalted).
Therefore, if we have to obtain the pleasure of Allah, we have to try hard to
prevent our anger to overtake our hearts.

Another
reason that we should control our anger is because anger is one factor that can
lead to the destruction of our very faith. Anger is an arrow that focuses on
only one target: our Islam. One of the companions of the Prophet (peace and
blessing of Allah be upon him) name Bah bin Hakim (Allah be well pleased with
him) narrated:

This
narration obviously shows that anger is in no manner beneficial to us, it only
has a terrible consequence: the loss of our faith. Without Islam, we would be
bare and nothing would be comparable to it to protect us.

One final
reason that it is crucial to control our anger is to develop strength of mind
and soul. The battle with anger is extremely exhausting and we regress to a
state where we satisfy our nafs, or lower self and ego, immediately; that
the best way to eradicate a stressing or difficult situation is to use anger.
But we must remain steadfast to battle anger so that it will not run through our
blood and reach our heart. Abu Hurairah (Allah be well pleased with him)
narrated that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him)
said:

“The
person who is strong is not strong because he can knock people down. The person
who is strong is the one who controls himself when he is angry (Sahih Bukhari).”

This hadith
shows us that a person is not strong because he has the physical means to
demonstrate his dominance over others, but the man who is able to control
himself when he is angry. This should motivate us to control our anger because
in the eyes of the Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) we will be
the strong ones. And if we remain in concord with this message of the Prophet
(peace and blessing of Allah be upon him), then we are obeying Allah (Mighty and
Majestic is He). And if we obey Allah (Glorified is He and Exalted), we obtain
what we strive to do as servants of Allah (Glorified is He and Majestic): His
Pleasure.

But now,
one may wonder, “How do I control my anger?” And the simple answer is to learn
and apply the character of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon
him) on us. One way in which we can control our anger from taking over us is as
the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said:

“When one
of you is angry while standing let him sit down and if his anger goes away that
is good; otherwise let him lie down (Abu Dawud).”

One may
wonder how these techniques would be affective in controlling anger. As Ibrahim
B. Syed, president of Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc wrote,
anger management advisors in this time and age state that if one wishes to speak
while angry, they should count to ten because it will give the person time to
regroup their thoughts and become more clearheaded. This will surely cause the
person to deal in this situation in a much rational manner. The same logic can
be applied to the technique that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah
be upon him) advised us to use. If one is in a standing position when provoked,
there is a great probability that the person will lash out. But if he sits down,
he changes his posture, allowing him to be more comfortable and gather his
thoughts together to deal with this situation in a sensible way. This is the
same logic that can be applied when one is sitting down, who then changes his
posture to lying down.

Another
interpretation of this hadith by Shaykh Riyadh Ul Haq (Allah bless him) is that
when we bring ourselves down from a state of standing to sitting, and if
necessary, to lying down, we are attaching ourselves to our origin, to what we
were made of. When we cling to the earth, we attach to the earth which is lowly,
which is dirt, which is base, and then are able to calm down.

Another way
in which we can control our anger is through wudhu or ablution. The
Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said:

“Anger is
from Shaitaan and Shaitaan has been created from fire. Since water extinguishes
fire, therefore, when one of you is overtaken by anger let him make Wudhu” (Abu
Dawud).

This
technique is tremendously helpful because water is the only element that can
extinguish fire. Therefore, when one’s heart is inflamed by anger, water must be
used to purify oneself to a state of peace. And there is only one form of
purity: wudhu. However, if someone is unable to perform wudhu, he
can drink water, and if he cannot drink water, let him wash his face with water.
The overall theme with this particular hadith is to purify oneself to be calm
and be at ease, which is through water for its ability to put out fire.

Some may
say that they cannot lie down or make wudhu for whatever reason there may
be. And in order to eradicate anger without these methods, one can simply remain
silent. The Prophet Muhammad said:

“A person
should remain silent when he is angry” (Sahih Bukhari).

This may be
the most difficult way to deal with anger, but this applies to what was
mentioned above, that we must develop that sense of strength in order to use
silence to control your anger. It is an immense struggle, but with the strength
that we can develop, we can just use silence to overcome the influences that
anger has upon us.

The fight
against anger is truly a difficult one. It takes dedication and motivation to do
so. But this difficult task should be worth it. We are trying to obtain the
pleasure of Allah (Mighty and Majestic is He) when we attempt to control our
anger. And if we obtain Allah’s pleasure, are we truly successful. As the
Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) stated:

“Do not
let your anger be destruction” (Sahih Bukhari).

So,
inshaAllah, may we strive to control our anger from leading to further
destruction in our lives and the lives of others. And may we be like those who
are slow to anger yet swift to cool so that the raging fire that once clutched
our hearts will loosen its fingers until it eventually lets it go.